Veracel initiates pulp production - 06.06.05

Veracel produced its first bale of pulp on May 22, initiating a phase of operating tests in the pulp production area. After 17 months under construction, which at its peak involved 12,000 workers, the new mill has now entered an adjustment stage. The official inauguration is scheduled for the end of September this year.

Veracel’s nominal capacity is 900,000 tons/year of bleached eucalyptus pulp and its production will be entirely sold by its controlling shareholders, Aracruz Celulose and StoraEnso, in proportion to their individual stakes (50% each). In 2005, it is estimated production will reach 360,000 tons of pulp, with 180,000 destined for Aracruz.

Although the improvement stage — the so-called learning curve — of a new manufacturing facility with the characteristics of the Veracel mill normally takes 12 months to complete, the company expects that it will conclude the phase in less time. Veracel Is located in Eunápolis, in the South of Bahia, on a 1.2-million-square meter plot of land, where it has built facilities occupying 300,000 square meters. When in full operation, it will be one of the largest single line pulp mills in the world. That also will be one of the most modern mills, both in its use of technology and advanced processes as well as in the adoption of the strictest international environmental control practices.

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